Make the Grade

[Brett Ferino]

Season 1: 1989-1990 (10/2/89 - 12/29/89)

Taped: July 1989-September 1989

Host: Lew Schneider

Announcer: Maria Milito

Videotaped: Unknown NYC Studio with No Audience (Canned Applause & Laughter)

Info: These are the 65 episodes from 1989 with the set many are familiar with. The regular desks the kids sit at and it is very space ship looking. In the opening, host Schneider is introduced as "your space-aged host". They aired in the 6:30PM timeslot Monday through Friday on Nick.

Bonus Round: Whoever completes their scoreboard (or comes closest to doing so) gets $500 and a trip to The Honors Round. In The Honors Round, You must answer 7 questions in 45 seconds and if you get it wrong or pass it, Lew comes back to it. If you get all 7 right, you get $600 for the first 6 and for the last one (7th) you get $200 and you leave with a total of $1500 including the $500 for winning the game.

Extra Time: When extra time was left, they would show clips of Lew at a nearby shopping mall where he would play a "Street Smarts"style game.
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Season 2: 1990-1991 (10/1/90 - 12/28/90)

Taped: December 1989-April 1990

Host: Lew Schneider

Announcer: Maria Milito

Videotaped: Unknown NYC Studio with No Audience (Canned Applause & Laughter)

Info: These are the episodes in the 2nd season hosted by Lew Schneider. They are a bit different from the previous season. The set pieces were basically the same as the ones used in the next season. Also know that the color or everything was grey and more dull looking. The board is now different and when Fire Drills are finished, the announcer announces the returns in colors instead of not doing that like in the previous season. These episodes aired in the 6:30PM Monday through Friday time slot like the previous season until December 28, 1990 and the next day episodes aired in the Saturday and Sunday 4:30PM time slot like when the episodes in the next season aired. 65 Episodes were made in this season.

Bonus Round: The Bonus Round in this season is a bit different from the previous season. For completing scoreboard (or coming close) gets you $500 like the previous season but know that if all 7 questions in the Honors Round are answered, you get $600 plus a trip to Universal Studios, Florida which was being almost finished during the tapings of these episodes. And if the contestant did not know the answer to one of the questions, then Lew answered another question in that subject unlike in the previous season.

Extra Time: If Extra Time was left, Lew and the contestant would play a short game called The University Round. This was often played when extra time was left and in all the episodes in which this was played, the contestant who won the game didn't answer all 7 questions correctly if any.

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Season 3: 1991 (9/21/91 - 12/29/91)

Taped: June 1990-September 1990

Host: Robb Edward Morris

Announcer: Maria Milito

Videotaped: With A Live Audience at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida

Info: These episodes aired in 1991 (but were produced and have the copyright of 1990) but were new at the time. They aired in the Saturday and Sunday 4:30PM time slot. There were a total of 30 episodes produced. They were taped at Nick Studios and featured a live audience rather than canned applause like in Lew's two seasons. The new host was 29-year-old Robb Edward Morris who tried to act goofy and often mimick Lew. The set was similar like the previous season with Lew and was more vibrant and kinda marble-looking and a bit stony or spiff. The board was a bit different though and the contestant name-tags were actual tags instead of sticker with their names written with permanent black marker.

Bonus Round: Same as in the 1990-1991 season with Schneider.

Extra Time: If Extra time was left, than Robb would be out in the audience along with the winning contestant and Robb would ask some children in the studio audience questions that were used and on previous shows or questions that would be used in future shows. If they got the answers right, then Robb would give them shirts from MTG or other Nickelodeon game shows that the same ones worn by the contestants. He would also give them merchandise sold in stores throughout the park.

- "Make the Grade" repeats can be seen on Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids which is availibile on cable, sattelite and digital cable. The shows air weekday mornings at 8:00AM & 11:00AM and Saturday and Sundays at 12:00PM.

[TMC]

http://www.gameshowgarbage.com/gsgcomm_70.html

Originally posted: July 5th, 2014

Text by: Robert Seidelman

Episode #4 of The Games Of 90 kicks off the "Summer of Nickelodeon". Every month this summer, I will look at one of the Nickelodeon game shows that aired in 1990. To kick things off with a bang, I look back at Make The Grade, Nickelodeon's answer to Jeopardy. How did it go for the kids? Well, find out, along with a tale of myself and the show's second host.

[TMC]

Today I talk about the other show attempting to create a Nickelodeon Trifecta, Think Fast.

Think Fast is owned by Nickelodeon, MTV Productions and Viacom Television. No Challenge to ownership is implied with the use of video and audio in this presentation.

If you enjoy the program please like, comment, subscribe and share. It helps us build our audience.

Nickelodeon is known for it's fast paced, messy game shows. But what if you took away the mess and the energy and just made a game show about answering academic questions? Could that possibly work in a post-silver ball Nickelodeon? Let's find out.